First Look at the Design Concept for Watkins Elementary School Modernization Project
by Larry Janezich
Following are images of the design concept by the architectural firm of Perkins Eastman DC for the Watkins Elementary School Project at 420 12th Street, SE. The design plan was submitted to the Historic Preservation Office on August 2.
The $39.4 million project backs up to the Insight Development’s Buchanan School condo project http://bit.ly/2cpmcAn, and is a stone’s throw from two more development projects in the 1300 block of E Street, SE, OPaL LLC’s Watkins Alley http://bit.ly/2bYJltK, and Insight Redevelopment’s “Bowie Site’ http://bit.ly/1TsgfOV In addition, the neighboring SE Safeway is also slated for development in the indefinite future http://bit.ly/2ckTfHd
View from the corner of 12th and E Streets, SE (click to enlarge)
View from the playing field on the east side of the school.
View from the south standing next to the Yu-Me Tree on the north wall of CVS.
View from 12th Street in front of the entrance to the school.
Saturday, August 6, circa 12 noon. Watkins School Modernization Project underway. See here for project details: http://bit.ly/2aF1nzw
CAPITOL HILL CORNER 
When will the children begin having classes at Watkins? Given the current status of this “modernization” project, Watkins does not look like a safe place for children.
Where will the Watkins students go for school during this modernization?
August 2017. Eliot-Hine.
These are the first images I’ve seen of the exterior, but DCPS has provided lots of information about the schematics and interior over the past year or so. The best summaries are
Click to access Watkins%20ES%20SIT%20Presentation-2015-04-22.pdf
and
Click to access Watkins-Modernization-Plans-2-17-2016.pdf
I have 2 general questions that I thought of and maybe someone here knows the answer.
1. That is a voting site and I am going to assume that maybe it won’t be this year. Any idea of where that may be. I poked around the Elections board site but didn’t see anything.
2. The second is something I am just curious about. With that Buchanan school project going on, they took away the angled teacher parking on 13th. Obviously it isn’t needed if they aren’t using the facilities unit later in 2017, but where will they park once they reoccupy the school since I assume some teachers will still drive? Will it go back to angled parking but have the side flipped, will it stay the way it is, is that parking moving somewhere elsewhere?
to #2 – look at page 4 of the pdf and you can see a new teacher parking lot off D Street. http://dgs.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dgs/publication/attachments/Watkins%20ES%20SIT%20Presentation-2015-04-22.pdf
CHC asked ANC6B Chair Kirsten Oldenburg. Her reply follows.
On the Watkins polling place: BOE has arranged for the use of Friendship Elementary School, 1345 Potomac Avenue SE, as an alternative. They should be notifying all who vote at this precinct soon. Another change on CH, BTW, is from Van Ness Elementary to the new community center at 5th and L SE.
On teacher parking at Watkins: As we went through the SIT process, we learned that teachers park behind the school in a lot accessed from E Street SE. This lot will be retained/redesigned with the entrance off D Street instead. It has never been clear who used to park in the “free” diagonal spots on 13th but assumptions always were that they were used by DC employees who work in the DDOT and DPW buildings in the alley behind the 1300 block of E Street. … I do not know the fate of these parking spots once the Buchanan Park project is completed.
Hope this helps.
Kirsten
Thanks for answers on both! I had always assume the care there were teachers which made that situation “OK” but if they weren’t I am glad that situation is possibly changing – good riddance to the confusion brought by that situation.
Don’t forget about the development at 1200 PA Ave SE and the shotgun house. https://capitolhillcorner.org/2016/08/12/city-advances-shotgun-house-project-sends-shakespeare-plan-back-to-drawing-board/
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